Winners September 4, 2011

By Lynn Hensley

Johnny Herrera was crowned the 32nd Annual Floyd Reynolds Memorial Champion on Sunday night. Herrera showed the fans why he has won so many big races in his career. After starting in the 3rd row, Herrera worked his way slowly into the top three. After Jon Taylor, Mike Colegrove, Jason Tanner, Bo Baker and Scott Box all had their turns at leading, Johnny put his #45x in front of Baker in some heavy traffic and held on for his 2nd win of the weekend. Bo Baker of Grants, N.M. was a very close 2nd by .039 sec. Jason Tanner of Albuquerque, N.M. finished 3rd followed by Mike Colegrove of Phoenix, Az. and last year’s series champion Scott Box was 5th. Rounding out the top ten were: Ronnie Smith, Cody Mansfield, Randy Smith, Josh Grady and Nick Rael.

Another “B” main took place as the sprint car count was at 28. Eight cars transferred to the “A” to make up the 24 car field. Nick Rael was the “B” main winner.

The CLMA/DIRT late models returned for night two of the Floyd Reynolds Memorial. After running a 15 lap “B” main, the field was narrowed from 29 cars to the 21 that would take the green flag in a 30 lap feature. Jeff Davis of Aztec won the “B” with another local driver, Andy Hockinhull taking 2nd. Kelly Boen of Henderson, Co. set fast time of the night with a new record time on this 3/8th mile track of 14.884 sec. He was motoring around Aztec Speedway at over 80 mph average. Boen also ran the fastest in the feature with a 15.021 lap. Needless to say, Boen had the field covered, or so it seemed. With the first five positions inverted for the feature, Garrett Higgins of Aztec, N.M. inherited the pole. Higgins had this track figured out as he led for 24 laps with Kelly Boen nipping at his heels for 22 of those laps. Higgins started pulling away from Boen and Terry Belcher, Jr. but his great run ended on lap 24 as he entered turn one. Higgins had to check up for a slower car and his #37 late model spun out of the lead. On the restart, Boen’s good fortune almost turned bad as his #07 starting showing a trail of smoke. With one lap to go, Kelly Boen’s car was slowing and smoking more and more. Belcher was closing in but somehow Boen’s motor kept running for one more lap and he took his 2nd win for a clean sweep for the weekend. Boen pulled into victory lane with a powerless car. You can be the fastest but you still need some luck as Kelly told the crowd. He would not have completed another lap. Boen pocketed $4,000 plus for the his dual wins at Aztec Speedway.

Lots of racing was going on behind the winner with Terry Belcher, Jr. holding on for 2nd and Paul Langhart of Tucson, Az. in 3rd. Fourth went to John Kuchar of Henderson, Co. and Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M. was 5th after starting in 16th. Rounding out the top ten were: Dean Moore of Grand Jct.,Co., Jason Davis also of Grand Jct., Dan Henrikson of Rapid City, S.D., Andy Hockinhull of Aztec, N.M., Dave Garmann of Brighton, Co. and Craig Baukema of Elizabeth, Co.

In the 20 lap New Mexico Mini Sprint feature, Kenny Brewer of Albq. N.M. had the a big lead and was pulling away until lap 6 when suddenly in turn four, his neon orange colored #45 started flipping end over end. The car was done but luckily the driver was OK. Once the raced resumed, Devon Amos lead several laps until Mike Brewer eased into the lead but fell back to settle for 2nd. Amos takes the win followed by Brewer, and Jacob Johnson for 3rd. In 4th was Spencer Hill with Cody Mansfield 5th. Cody had a great night with a 7th place finish in a Truman West NMMRA sprint car. Taking 6th was Eric Smith followed by Matt Deskins of Waddell, Az. and Dustin Cormany also of Arizona. Ninth went to Cody Dons and another Arizona driver, Cliff Cormany took 10th.

The IMCA modifieds, sport modifieds and stock cars also ran this 2nd night of “The Floyd”.
The modified feature had 20 cars taking the green for a CAUTION FREE 20 lap race. Mark Rodgers took the lead at the green for the first few laps until the familiar #7p came roaring up for a pass on the outside. Porter Smith then lead until the white flag. Zane Devilbiss and his Pink Panther #18z had been tracking Smith and gaining a little for 15 laps. On the final lap with both cars working very heavy traffic, Smith went into turn 3 on the high side and Devilbiss took the low lane. The end result was Devilbiss coming out of turn 4 in front and taking the win. With this fresh win for the 2010 National IMCA Modified Champion, Devilbiss will head to Boone, Iowa for the Super Nationals and his invite to run in the “race of champions”. Mark Rodgers finished behind Smith for 3rd and in fourth was Aaron Spangler. Reagan Tafoya, another Boone bound driver, was 5th. The rest of the top ten were: JJ Harpole, Danny Bradford, Bob Harter, Brandon Carley, and Austin Black.

The IMCA sport modified feature saw a familiar face in victory lane…Wayne Soares led from the pole to the checkers for his 3rd win of the season. Zach Hamilton and Dakota Kibel got close to the leader but just couldn’t take the win from him. Hamilton did take the 2nd spot with Kibel in 3rd. Fourth was Brian Carey and Ryan Henley 5th. Sixth through tenth were: Randy Eitel, Kristy Tenski, Glenn Spangler, Shane Simonton, and Jordan Eddleman. Joey Klemish was involved in a crash with the Juanita Faddis car on the front stretch. Klemish’s car spun around and was air born but did not roll. The car sustained heavy damage and Joey received a ride in the ambulance but was reportedly OK.

The IMCA stock car race saw several cautions with one for a two car crash between Mike Farley and Darin James. As Farley entered turn 3, his car was turned and stopped facing the oncoming car of Darin James. Farley drove his car off but the James car appeared to be a total.

Richard Trujillo started his new #82 on the pole and held off all challenges to win his first feature at Aztec Speedway. Close behind was Kenny Hendershot followed by Steffan Carey in 3rd. Fourth went to Rex Higgins and fifth to Lee Moss. Sixth was Tony Hill with a strong run after starting 18th. In 7th was Frankie Hendershot followed by Allen Bradley, Samuel Sansoni and Larry Bradley.

What a night of racing! All in all, 133 racecars turned 315 laps under green with numerous other laps under yellow and about 40 warm up laps. And the track was still fast at the end and did not dry out. Superb work from all involved.